Lagoon

We went to Lagoon a few weeks ago with Ashlee and her family.  Here are a few cute pictures from our day there.

Viv and Ella on the Baby Boats.  I decided this would be a nice, easy ride for Vivvie to go on first--considered her utter refusal to go on any rides last year.  She ended up doing great and went on quite a few rides...

Vivienne and Ella on the helicopter ride...

Tyler and Cohen on the helicopter ride...

The girls on the cars...

The boys on the airplanes...

The little girls went too...

Ella and Viv on the Tiddlywinks ride.  Vivvie decided this ride was "too scary" because it went "too high and too fast."  Baby steps, baby steps...

Cohen and Ty on Puff The Magic Dragon...

And Ella and I on Puff as well...

The big boys (including Greg) waiting in line for Wicked...

A wild ride on Wild Mouse...

Aiden and Viv on the cars...

Mike and Connor on Tidal Wave...

Con on Turn of the Century...

Aiden and Vivienne on the bumper cars.  I thought Viv would hate this ride.  Boy, was I wrong.  She absolutely loved it and would giggle and giggle anytime they ran into the other cars...

Aiden and I on Dino Drop...

The little girls on the spaceships...

And the teacups...

Oh, you know, just taking selfies on roller coasters.  I love the little girl freaking out behind us...

Hanging out on the little swings...

Selfie with my sweet girl...

The boys on the Log Ride...

Vivvie taking an afternoon snooze...

Mike and Connor on Air Race...

Connor, Aiden and I on The Rocket...

Mike and Vivienne on the teacups.  This is Viv's favorite ride.  She calls it "The Belle Ride."  That's actually my fault.  I told her it was a Belle ride last year when she was refusing to go on any rides.  I told her the big tea kettle in the middle was Mrs. Potts and the teacups were Chip--both from the movie "Beauty and the Beast."  Now, I'm pretty sure we'll be referring to it as "The Belle Ride" for many years to come...

Cute Vivvie on Bulgy The Whale...

Mike and Vivienne on Red Rock Rally...

What do you do while waiting in line?  Why not pose as superheroes?!?

Taking a ride on the train...

And the Merry-Go-Round...

We ended the night with a ride on the massive ferris wheel--where Connor realized he might have a slight fear of heights.  I seriously thought he might lose it...

It was a great day!  We had so much fun and everyone was able to go on all the rides they wanted to--well, except Cohen who is still too short to go on most the dare devil rides he wants to try.  Maybe next year.  We'll be keeping our fingers crossed.  --Lindsay

Swimming Lessons 2014

The kiddos did swimming lessons a few weeks ago.  And, when I say "the kiddos," I mean all the kiddos--including Vivienne!  It was the first year I've ever been able to sit on the sidelines and relax, rather than chasing after a toddler.  Yay!! We did lessons at the Legacy Center again, and Ashlee's kids did lessons there too.  In fact, Aiden and Gavin were in a class together, and Vivvie and Ella were together too.  That made it really fun for the kids.  All of them had a great year.  I only took a few pictures because--well, I was enjoying the relaxing that I've never been able to do before.  But, here are a few that I took.  You'll probably notice that the kids have life jackets on in several of the pictures I took.  Apparently, it was "life jacket safety day" for a lot of the classes on the day I decided to get off my butt and actually take some pictures.

Connor was in Level 5 this year.  I can't believe what a great swimmer he's becoming!  He can do all the strokes for 50 yards or farther.  It's awesome!  He passed off Level 5 and will move on to Level 6 (the final level) next year...

Aiden was in Level 3 this year.  He did a great job learning and working on all the different strokes.  He is becoming a great swimmer as well.  He was able to pass Level 3 and will move on to Level 4 next year...

Cohen did Preschool Level 3 this year.  He learned how to swim short distances unassisted and continued to get more comfortable in the water.  He did great, and was able to pass off his level as well.  He will move on to Level 1 (which comes after all the preschool levels) next year...

Viv was in Preschool Level 1 this year.  This level is all about playing in shallow water to get the kids comfortable in it.  I was worried that Vivienne wouldn't even go to class.  She can be kind of a diva, in case you didn't know, and if she decides she doesn't want to do something or is scared to do something, no amount of coaxing, bribing or forcing will get her to do it.  So, when she happily marched into the pool on her first day, I was extremely surprised and happy!  I'm sure it helped that she had Ella with her.  Vivvie loves Ella and wants to be just like her, so when Ella took her hand and lend her into the water, Viv just followed!!  It was awesome.  Viv really enjoyed her lessons--except when they were doing anything that involved putting her face in the water.  She hates getting her face wet!  She's been this way since she was born.  She doesn't even like getting her face washed with a washcloth.  Well, half the things the kids needed to pass off in order to move up to the next level involved sticking their faces in the water (blowing bubbles, bobs, etc.)  So, she didn't pass and will be repeating Preschool Level 1 next year.  But, that's okay.  I just consider the fact that she happily went to her lesson as a huge success!  Baby steps, baby steps...

So, that was our swimming lessons session of the summer.  I consider it a huge success.  All the kids were sad to see it come to an end and can't wait until next year.  I can't either!  I actually looked forward to swimming lessons each day, now that I'm not chasing toddlers around anymore.  --Lindsay

Cohen Turns Six!

Cohen turned six-years-old on July 26th!  It seems like just yesterday that I called in sick to work because I was in labor with him.  I have no idea where those six years went.  We decided to celebrate not one day...but three days.  Hey, why have a birthDAY when you can have a birthWEEK?!?  Plus, that's just how the chips fell this year.  We held Cohen's family birthday party a few days before his birthday because that's what worked best for everyone.  Dan's sister, brother-in-law, and their kids were all in town, so they joined in on the birthday fun too.  We had everyone over for a barbecue (no pictures, sorry), then did cupcakes and ice cream (no pictures, sorry), and then opened presents (finally, I remembered to get my camera out)...

As you can probably tell, Cohen was spoiled rotten by everyone!  After presents, we hung out around the fire pit for the rest of the night.  We made s'mores and talked.  (Unfortunately, no pictures again.) It was a fun night!! I was glad everyone was able to come.

On Cohen's actual birthday, we went to Mike's family reunion.  The reunion was the reason that none of Cohen's birthday parties were held on his actual birthday.  However, even though there wasn't an official birthday party this day, Mike's family got Cohen a birthday cake and everyone sang to him at the reunion, so I'd say that counts, right?  Mike's dad, brother, sister, and brother-in-law all flew in for the reunion.  It was great to see them and get to hang out with them for awhile.  The reunion was held at a condo complex in Salt Lake.  They rented out the clubhouse and pool, so we had them to ourselves all day long.  The kids had a great time in the pool...

Mike and Uncle David introduced the boys to the great art form of chicken fights.  The boys fell in love with them and kept begging to do "just one more" over and over and over again...

Poor David.  Hahahahahaha...

I went to work halfway through the afternoon, but then everyone came and picked me up to go to dinner later that evening in between my shows.  We went to Lorena's in Woods Cross--one of Mike's family's favorites.  Here's Cohen showing the camera how old he officially turned that day...

Even though we didn't have an official party for Cohen on his official birthday, I think he still had a great day playing and swimming in the sun.

We held Cohen's friend party a few days later.  It was a simple party--pizza dinner, water balloon games, a pinata and an obstacle course.  Mike just threw the course together, but it turned out really fun.  First, the kids had to jump across some folding chairs...

Then hit a target (a.k.a. a little table turned on its side) with a Frisbee...

Then ride a little tricycle around the firepit while dodging the obstacles (a.k.a. rocking chairs)...

Then pull five weeds out of the grass.  Yes, Mike used this game as a way to get some yard work done too.  Hey, just killing two birds with one stone, right?

Then touch their toes three times while jumping on the tramp...

Then shoot a basket...

Then crawl through a tube...

And run back to the patio...

Here's some shots of the pinata action.  At first, we had the kids blindfolded...

But, that was clearly above their skill level, so we took the blind fold off...

Well, that was apparently below their skill level because...

The pinata came down--or should I say MOST the pinata came down--on the fourth kid's turn...

Luckily, the part of the pinata that held all the candy was still hanging, but the candy was quickly knocked out of it...

So, we told the kids not to run for the candy quite yet while the other kids took their turns beating the poor thing to death...

Finally, when everyone had taken a few swings at what was left of the pinata, we let the kids gather up the candy...

Poor thing...

After they were all sugared up, it was time to open presents...

And then, we sugared them up some more with Ninja Turtle birthday cake and ice cream...

The cute birthday boy...

Then, when they had all become sufficiently wild and crazy, we sent them all home to their parents.  It was a fun--and very simple--birthday party.

So, there's Coconut's birthWEEK in a nutshell or--since we've got a Ninja Turtles theme going here--a turtle shell.  Can't believe my baby boy is SIX and starting Kindergarten in just a few weeks.  Man, life is really flying by too quickly.  --Lindsay